Reports: Tukwila man awoke in car only to be shot in Central District

Updated 10:37 am, Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Reports that emerged from King County Superior Court Monday detailing Sunday morning's Central District shooting indicate that a 24-year-old man sleeping in a car that morning was shot multiple times by a man who approached the vehicle.

Though initial reports from Seattle police indicated the man died of his wounds, the King County Prosecutor's Office said Monday afternoon that the victim is still alive.

A 21-year-old man believed to be the shooter remains in King County Jail on $1 million bail for investigation of attempted murder.

The car was parked near Boren Avenue South and South Main Street, probable cause reports say, occupied by two men and two women. One woman reportedly left the car just before the shooting occurred.

Three men approached the car about 3:10 a.m. and asked a man sitting in the front seat whether he was from Tukwila, a police narrative says. The man said he wasn't.

A 24-year-old man who was sleeping in the back seat awoke to claim he was from Tukwila.

The group of men showed guns in their waistbands and ordered the man out of the car, reports say. The man refused multiple times while the other occupants of the car got out on the opposite side and laid on the ground.

At least two of the three armed men then opened fire into the car, probable cause documents say.

The 24-year-old man was shot once in the head, once in the neck and multiple times in the torso, the investigation indicates. He was taken to Harborview Medical Center.

Seattle police announced the man died at the hospital, but Superior Court spokesman Dan Donohoe said that life-saving measures taken to save him proved successful.

A witness implicated the 21-year-old man as one of the shooters. Police found the man at his Yesler Terrace home about 11 a.m., less than a half-mile from the slaying.

The man changed his story multiple times while talking to police, but ultimately admitted being present at the shooting without confessing to being a shooter.

Seattle police are still looking for an accomplice in the shooting and ask anyone with information to call 206-233-5000.